Empties, which are in the form of packages, for example, such as returnable bottles, e.g. plastic and glass bottles, are generally returned individually by consumers by means of automatic empties return appliances, which are set up in supermarkets, for example. The conventional practice is that the returned empties in the form of different and intermingled bottles are discharged onto an empties sorting table by the automatic empties return appliance and are then sorted manually into empties crates by workers at the empties return point, allowing correctly sorted empties crates to be transported to an empties recycling point. However, manual sorting of empties starting from a collection of different and intermingled bottles is time-consuming and, at the same time, manual sorting of the empties into the empties crates to obtain correctly sorted empties crates is subject to a high potential for error (incorrectly sorted empties crates represent a loss of value for the empties return point).